Hello and welcome to the second episode of our series Learning Treasures of the Internet, where we present to you little gems we find while curating our TeachPitch library. As last time, Dr. Christopher Hein, who heads content curation here at TeachPitch, has joined me again. Today we will be talking about the European Union and how they are trying to support school leaders.

Christopher, what’s the link between school leaders in the UK and the European Union?

Christopher: Talking about the EU is a hot topic at the moment here in the UK as the referendum whether we should stay in or leave is only about three months away. The education system in England in particular is currently going through a period of substantial and very rapid changes. As schools are becoming increasingly autonomous through the government’s move to creating Academy schools, more and more responsibility lies on the shoulders of school leaders. But as local school authorities are disappearing, school leaders need to find new sources of guidance. The European Policy Network on School Leadership (EPNoSL) is a consortium of 42 organisations and institutions based in the EU and focuses on professional development and supporting of school leaders. It engages in diverse activities resulting in the production of different types of resources on school leadership, among which are a toolkit on school leadership for equity and learning, a series of webinars, literature reviews, papers and research reports.

What do you like about their resources?

Christopher: When we came across EPNoSL we especially liked their School Leadership Toolkits and their webinar series. I have never been involved in school leadership matters, but I imagine that when so much responsibility rests on my shoulders, I would feel under a lot of pressure to do it right. At the same time I wouldn’t really know how and where to start implementing a policy. EPNoSL’s toolkit acknowledges that there isn’t one correct way of doing so. For example, their Policy Response Toolset* doesn’t prescribe how one should implement a specific policy, but describes potential barriers school leaders might encounter and creative ways how one might alleviate them. On TeachPitch teachers can also find links to EPNoSL’s webinar series that, for example, explains in greater detail strategies to successfully leading and managing change.

Do you think EPNoSL is only relevant to school leaders in EU member countries?

Christopher: When it comes to raising students’ educational outcomes school leaders are one of the key stakeholders educational research has identified. Generally there will always be policies school leaders need to implement in their schools. I believe EPNoSL’s resources on TeachPitch are applicable to school leaders globally, due to the way their toolkit is designed and the topics their webinars address.

*This content has been shared via Team TeachPitch central profile. More about this next week.